Internal Consultancy Skills at work

Consulting is a broad term that refers to subject matter expertise offered to organisations in various fields and aspects of their operations. Consulting services help organisations develop clear and relevant objectives, plan and organize efficient data collection, draw logical conclusions as well as foster teamwork and transparent and clear communication.

There are various types of consulting, including strategic, management, operations, financial, human resource and information technology. Irrespective of the type of consulting, there are some general and common steps followed through the practice.

What do consultants do? Consultants are those experienced professionals from a specific field and subject matter knowledge who provide an objective, unbiased perspective and help organisations accomplish short-term goals and make use of outside market knowledge and experience to gain a competitive advantage in the market.

Course Objective:

By the end of this course, participants will know:

About consulting and the roles and responsibilities of a consultant
the required skills, experience and confidence to serve as an internal consultant
the skills and awareness to help the organisation is looking at things objectively and providing feedback and inputs to the organisation
the awareness, perspective, confidence and experience to help others in the organisation with subject matter expertise and objective data or information to be able to analyse the internal operations
the required expertise and knowledge to help the organisation achieve short-term goals and plan well for long-term goals
the skill to think creatively and innovate to find different solutions to a problem
the experience, knowledge and confidence to change the approach of the organisation and its employees towards focusing more on the customer
the overall skill set and capabilities to contribute to organisational growth and development, thereby also fostering more opportunities for career growth and progression
adequate analytical and strategic skills to logically conclude from available data or information

Course Outline:

Module 1 – Types of Consulting

Strategy consulting
Management consulting
Operations consulting
Financial consulting
Human resource consulting
Information technology consulting

Module 2 – Fundamentals of Consulting

Develop clear and relevant objectives
Plan and organize efficient data collection
Draw logical conclusions
Work effectively as a team
Communicate clearly
Module 3 – Three Cs of Consulting
Competence
Confidence
Credibility

Module 4 – Steps in Consulting

Discovery
Analysis
Report Findings
Strategy
Implementation
Complete, detailed report
Follow-up

Module 5 – Consultant Tools

Benchmarking
Balanced scorecard
Porter’s five forces
The GE-Mckinsey nine-box matrix
The BCG growth-share matrix
Core competencies

Module 6 – Consultant Characteristics/Skills

Team player
Excellent communicator
Fast learner
Problem solver
Decision maker
Creative thinker
Solution-focused
Customer-oriented
Flexible worker
Stress-resilient

Module 7 – Benefits of a Consultant

Objective outsider’s perspective
Accomplishing short-term goals
Leveraging new skills
Outside market knowledge
Luxury of time to plan

Module 8 – Challenges Faced by Consultants

Increased competition
Changes in how buyers purchase services
Unpredictability in the market
Downward price pressure on services
Need for new skills

Who to attend:

Senior members and managers of an organisation.
All functional and operational managers who handle and oversee the operations of different departments in an organisation
Policymakers who need to understand consultancies and a consultant’s suggestion before framing guidelines or setting policies around it
Internal and external auditors responsible for reviewing processes and guidelines, analyzing these and providing expert opinion as well as creative corrective action

Venue: KENYA

Date: Open